SAN FRANCISCO , California -LRB- CNET -RRB- -- In an industry dominated by men , leave it to women to come up with the winning idea in a contest to create a concept for a video game about losing one 's virginity .

Two women won a contest this week to create a concept for a video game about losing one 's virginity .

On Wednesday , at the Game Developers Conference here , the two-woman team of Heather Kelley and Erin Robinson won the Game Design Challenge with just 36 hours of preparation , while their competitors had weeks to come up with concepts for a game about `` your first time . ''

This was the sixth straight year of the design challenge , hosted annually by New York-based game developer Eric Zimmerman . The contestants are generally top-tier game designers like two-time winner and Spore and The Sims creator Will Wright , Deus Ex lead designer Harvey Smith , or 2008 winner and Leather Goddesses of Phobos creator Steve Meretzsky .

The contestants are generally given several weeks to come up with a concept for a game based on some sort of unusual challenge posed by Zimmerman . Past themes have included a game about love , a game based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson , and a game that could win the Nobel Peace Prize .

`` We are in a medium that is just incredibly plastic , '' Zimmerman said . `` We can put anything up on the screen ... Still , we find every year that most of the money being put into games is put into a relatively narrow -LRB- set of -RRB- genres '' that tends to include monsters , dragons , and the like .

Zimmerman added that the purpose of the challenge is `` to think about how we can create games that really break away '' from what 's been done so many times before .

Sex and autobiography have been constant themes in literature , film , and theater , Zimmerman argued , pointing to `` Lolita , '' the work of Henry Miller , Chaim Potok 's novel , `` My name is Asher Lev , '' and the films of Fellini and Woody Allen .

But while Zimmerman touted the widespread historical acceptance of the theme of autobiographical sex , he noted with some dismay that veteran game designer Kim Swift , who works for Valve and who created the award-winning Portal , had originally been slated to be among the contestants but had eventually been pressured by Valve to withdraw due to the theme .

`` I 'm saying this as a fan of Valve , '' Zimmerman said , `` but I do find it frustrating and disturbing that Kim would be pulled from the panel . ''

Still , he said , after word got around about Swift 's withdrawal , Lapis designer Kelley and independent developer Robinson volunteered to step up and compete .

The two ended up facing off against Meretzsky , on hand to defend his crown , and Habbo Hotel lead designer Sulka Haro .

And in the end , while all three submissions were well-received , the duo of Kelley and Robinson were judged by the audience to have very closely beaten out Meretzsky .

The two women came up with a concept for `` Our first times , '' and presented it as a two-level game , one level for Kelley 's experience and the other for Robinson 's . They imagined a series of mini games that could be played on Nintendo 's Wii , or possibly on Apple 's iPhone .

Kelley began by explaining that her game would commence with the player having to pick an outfit for a date that was intended to conclude with their deflowering . It would have to be the least complicated outfit possible , she said , nothing with zippers that get stuck , or too many buttons or ties .

Then , there would be a mini game in which players would have to shave their legs , making especially sure not to miss the all-important spot `` by the knees . '' Next up , dinner , and making sure to remove all the garlic from the meals , something the main character -- clearly a female , since the game was presented from a woman 's perspective -- would have to do because of the general cluelessness of the boyfriend in question .

The next mini game would revolve around choosing the proper mood music from a selection of LPs -- yes , records , since the game would be set in the timeframe of Kelley 's first time . And clearly , she said , Miles Davis would have to be the choice .

The penultimate mini game would task the player with `` not falling off the top bunk '' in a college dorm room , '' while the final task would involve flicking off the smirking roommate .

The Robinson level also involved a series of mini games that commenced with `` driving home from ultimate-Frisbee practice '' and setting the radio station in a car -- perhaps using the Wiimote dial , she said -- to anything except country music . Next would be a stop at a drug store to buy a brand of condoms that does n't terrify you , and then going `` back to his place , '' and grappling with adjusting the tracking on his `` antiquated '' VCR .

Being a game concept presented from the woman 's perspective , the next mini game would revolve around `` making the first move . Poor guy . ''

And then , afterward , calling the best friend to tell the tale .

`` But you have to be careful , '' Robinson said , `` because she 's next to mom and grandma on the speed dial . ''

Perhaps given their short notice , the mini-game concepts created by Kelley and Robinson were n't very fleshed out , something that was a shame since they seemed to be onto something . But the crowd appreciated how much effort they had put into the storyboards they 'd created , and forgave the rudimentary fleshing out of the details .

Meretzsky 's concept -- which came in a very close second -- ended up revolving around the idea of moving beyond the awkwardness of fumbling high school attempts at romance . But before explaining his final design , he talked at length about the challenges of coming up with a game idea when every possible title was too overtly sexual . He said he tried out `` Where 's dildo , '' but discarded it because `` it had nothing to do with my autobiography . ''

And then , he thought `` about the almost too obvious genre of first-person shooters . ''

He also threw away `` Call of Booty '' -- because it would have `` problems that would keep it off the shelf at Wal-Mart '' -- and then almost settled on a beat-matching idea called `` Hump Hump Revolution . ''

And , playing off the title of Swift 's hit game , as well as a popular 2008 film , he said he nearly ended up with `` Zack & Miri make a Portal , '' but `` my business people tell me paying licenses for two different -LRB- intellectual properties -RRB- is a non-starter . ''

In the end , he said , he came up with a three-act structure for a game based in the virtual world , Second Life , where act one involves the awkward era of high school , the second act is the more promising college years and finally , act three , happiness in the form of a series of vignettes including dates , a wedding , and then , home life .

The game , he said , would be called , `` Wait , time passes . ''

`` No matter how picked on you are , '' Meretzsky said , `` this too shall pass . Your time will come , and you will find happiness and your place in the world . ''

Of the six Game Design Challenges , this year 's felt the most wanting for detail and working game mechanics . That may have been because the contestants ' task of building something autobiographical did n't meld well with game design . Still , the crowd , which was heavy with game designers , appreciated the efforts and shouted out their support for all three contestants .

After all , in the end , the point was to take a particularly challenging game design topic and create something that could plausibly be a working title . And who would know better the difficulties of doing so than a room full of game designers ?

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Contest held to create a concept for a video game about losing one 's virginity

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Winners are two-woman team of Heather Kelley and Erin Robinson

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Winning concept involves choosing outfit and mood music , ditching roommate

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Game conceived as a series that could be played on a Wii or even an iPhone